Almost on a whim, a photographer and a novelist transformed this South Carolina getaway into a haven for their creative pursuits.

A House of Their Own

A House of Their Own

The whole thing started, as a joke, over a bottle of wine. Patti Callahan Henry and Sandee Oliver Bartkowski, friends of 16 years, were having dinner with their husbands when the conversation turned to a particular vacation home in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina. "My husband and I were toying with the idea of buying it," recalls Henry. "And Sandee said, 'We'll go in on it with you!'"

In this photo: Designer Kevin Scanlon crafted the pendant lamps in the kitchen out of crab baskets, rope, and burlap.

Dining Area

Dining Area

After a few days of discussions, the couples made an offer based on photos alone, and the two visionary women—Henry's a novelist and Bartkowski's a fine arts photographer—drove four hours from Atlanta to see the house for the first time. They decided that the property, built in the early 2000s, should be more than a family getaway (Bartkowski has two grown sons, and Henry has two teenage boys and a daughter in college).

In this photo: The dining-room fixture was fashioned from reclaimed oyster sticks (used to farm the mollusks), and the farmhouse table and chairs are by Shabby Chic. Bartkowski shot the photo in a marsh on the property. The walls are painted Cedar Key by Benjamin Moore.